Tang Dynasty: Father, if you don't rebel, I will!

The Pishi Army, the most elite army of the Khitan, also known as the "Heart and Soul Division," was a personal guard composed entirely of Khitan people, and its name meant "Vajra."

It is divided into two parts, left and right.

The soldiers in the army were all capable of fighting to the death, and were extremely skilled in cavalry warfare, archery, and field battles.

Capable of close combat, ambushes in the wilderness...

Li Ke looked at his elder brother with a look of horror, while introducing him with a smug expression.

He stiffly turned his head to look at his fourth brother, Prince Wei, Li Tai, beside him, only to see the latter looking equally astonished and incredulous, staring blankly at the standard nomadic cavalry in front of him.

Li Chengqian stood with his hands behind his back, shrugging in the face of his younger brothers' almost questioning gazes.

Why are you all staring at me like that?

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, where did you get these people? No... how could there be such a foreign elite cavalry force within the borders of our Great Tang... Are they Turks?"

Li Ke found it all absurd.

Li Chengqian shook his head: "No, these people are Khitans, a people who live further north. They have now submitted to our Great Tang. I have had the Embroidered Uniform Guard test them many times, and they are loyal and capable of being employed."

Li Ke, Li Tai, and the others all looked at him with suspicion, as if to say, "Brother, do you think we're fools?"

However, since these people were brought up, it was already expected that they would be questioned.

Li Chengqian had no interest in them at this moment.

Anyway, these people are indeed loyal to him. As long as he doesn't reveal their origins, who would guess that they were extracted from his golden finger projection world?

The former Imperial Guards and the professors and instructors at the Imperial University—haven't they been questioned to this day?

"I......."

Seeing that his elder brother was now lying without any real effort, Li Ke opened his mouth, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Li Chengqian waved to Yelü Damu, a general of the Pishi Army.

This burly man, exuding a strong aura of savagery, immediately stepped forward and knelt on one knee under the wary gazes of Li Ke and the others.

"This humble general, Yelü Damu, greets Your Highnesses! I am new to the Tang Dynasty and have many misconceptions; please forgive me!"

Li Tai's eyes widened, and his hand trembled as he pointed at the guy.

"Such fluent Tang language, even more fluent than that old codger Ashina Quli! Your Majesty, are you saying these guys only recently joined the Tang Dynasty?!"

"You're saying they're a people from the far north?!"

"There are so many nomadic peoples in between, like the Turks and Uyghurs, yet they speak fluent Tang language? You, you're not even going to put on an act anymore?!"

Li Ke also looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't know where to begin.

She pursed her lips and stared blankly at her elder brother.

"Ha! General Yelü himself said that his heart is with our Great Tang. Isn't it normal for him to be able to speak Tang language?"

Normal, a normal egg!

Li Tai and Li Ke were internally ranting and raving.

Li Chengqian ignored all of this, chuckled, and told Yelü Damu to get up, then looked at Li Ke.

"Hehe, third brother, from now on these people will follow you and go to Arabia with you!"

"What?!" *2

Li Ke was stunned, and Li Tai was taken aback.

"He, this... Your Majesty, you..." Just a moment ago, Li Tai thought these people were untrustworthy and full of suspicion. But when he heard his elder brother's words, he felt nothing but sourness in his heart.

He looked up at the large army in front of him.

An empty military training ground outside Chang'an City was now packed with people.

Their armor was neat and their military bearing fierce. The scimitars, longbows, quivers, and arrows on the sides of their saddles were all in good condition.

In such a short time, there wasn't even a single small movement.

Even the cavalrymen among them had their warhorses perfectly aligned, except for the occasional slight head shake from the horses to prove they were alive.

At this moment, the training ground resembled a thousand statues.

Just by looking at them, one could tell that this army was an exceptionally strong and elite force, comparable to the Left and Right Guards of Chang'an...

For Li Ke?!

Why?!

Li Tai stared wide-eyed, and while Li Ke was still in shock, he subtly moved to his elder brother's side and tugged at his clothes.

Being thrown away.

Undeterred, Li Tai reached out again.

Li Chengqian didn't even glance at it, and shook it off again.

Li Tai: "?°(°ˉ??ˉ?°)°?"

"Brother, I am your own brother, born of the same mother!"

Li Tai pouted. Although he had no desire to go out and fight, the thought of giving such a fine elite force to Li Ke meant that he, Li Tai, was not as important as his elder brother, the third brother Li Ke, in his eyes!

This is unbearable!

Li Chengqian smiled, reached out and pressed Li Tai's head down, pulling the other's face back from where it was about to touch him.

"Third brother, what do you think...?"

"Brother! Brother, you absolutely mustn't!!!"

Before he could finish speaking, Li Ke, who had just come to his senses, suddenly changed his expression and knelt down on one knee.

"I implore Your Highness to rescind your order! Such a large force is truly unacceptable to me!"

Li Chengqian smacked his lips involuntarily.

"Tsk... Third brother, so you really do harbor rebellious intentions towards your elder brother, the Emperor."

Upon hearing this, Li Ke's already tense expression changed drastically with shock.

Kneeling on one knee becomes kneeling on both knees.

"Your Majesty, I absolutely did not!"

Li Chengqian glared at him: "Since you have no intention of rebelling, why didn't you accept the command of these people that I entrusted to you? What? I've already put the entire navy under your management, and you've done a good job. Now you're afraid to take on these extra 10,000 troops?"

Li Ke was speechless, while Li Tai, standing to the side, became anxious.

She tugged at her elder brother's sleeve again: "Brother, the third prince doesn't want it, but I do. Give it to me..."

Unexpectedly, Li Chengqian suddenly turned his eyes to the side, looking him up and down with a half-smile.

"Qingque, you're either in Chang'an or Luoyang, and you already have a musketeer corps under your command. What do you need 10,000 soldiers for?"

"Are you afraid that I, Your Majesty, am sleeping too soundly?"

Li Tai immediately chuckled awkwardly and shrank back.

Li Chengqian glared at his younger brother, who was clearly jealous and vying for favor, and then stepped forward to help the terrified Li Ke up.

“Take what I have given you. These troops will not remain in the Tang Dynasty, but will be sent to garrison ports along the coast of Arabia and India.”

"Otherwise, how can you possibly deter those foreign villains with just the troops on the Royal Fleet?"

Hearing Li Chengqian say this, Li Ke finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, he still hurriedly said, "That's fine, but if these troops are transferred back to the country in the future, I will definitely hand over the military tally to Your Majesty!"

Li Chengqian did not agree.

Not long after Li Chengqian and his entourage returned to the palace, the Ministry of War and other important figures in the Tang Dynasty received the news.

Everyone's initial reaction was exactly the same.

They couldn't believe that His Highness the Crown Prince had quietly subdued such an elite foreign cavalry force.

Some people even didn't believe the news was true.

until the next day.

At the court assembly, Li Chengqian publicly introduced Yelü Damu's identity and announced his appointment.

Only then did everyone have no choice but to believe the truth.

Inside the Taiji Hall, the officials were arguing endlessly about Li Ke being given additional military power.

At this moment, among the ranks of military generals, Duke Ashina Quli of Duguo looked up and down with a puzzled expression at Yelü Damu, a northern barbarian man whose physique was comparable to his own.

The Khitan people certainly existed in the Tang Dynasty, but... those Khitan people were still under the rule of Goguryeo, living in what is now Liaodong Circuit of the Tang Dynasty.

If the Khitan had such a force and such a formidable leader, could Goguryeo have suffered such a crushing defeat?

"Brother, are you really a Khitan?"

Yelü Damu: "Absolutely true!"

Ashina Quli's expression froze as he listened to the clear and articulate Mandarin.

"Why...why have I never heard of your name before?"

Yelü Damu: "My people and I do not live in Liaodong Road, but further north... even further north than Baikal County."

Ashina Quli nodded slightly.

But he looked like he was racking his brains and thinking hard.

Further north of Beihai... is there another powerful Khitan tribe?

After the court session, Li Ke could clearly sense the strange looks in the eyes of the officials around him. Their suspicious and thoughtful gazes made him feel immense pressure.

Meanwhile, Consort Yang of the inner palace had already gone to the Empress because of this matter.

I earnestly request that Empress Zhangsun persuade Crown Prince Li Chengqian to reclaim his military power.

Empress Zhangsun, rubbing her forehead with a headache, tried to persuade Consort Yang to agree to ask about the specific cause, after she had been frightened.

No sooner had Consort Yang left than Li Tai's voice, tinged with sobs, came from outside the palace.

"Mother! My brother is bullying me!"

Empress Zhangsun: "..."

......

Leaving aside the debates among the officials, and also the recent resentment in Li Tai's eyes towards Crown Prince Li Chengqian, let's set aside the matter for now.

The moment Sufyan saw the imposing army of ten thousand men of Pishi.

I almost fainted from excitement.

In November of the fifth year of the Zhenguan era, snowflakes began to fall in Chang'an.

General Yelü Damu of the Pishi Army was ordered to lead his troops out of the Hexi Corridor, through Sassanid Persia to Arabia, and overland to the Arab region along the Red Sea coast, where they were stationed in advance.

And at the same time.

In Dengzhou, the Tang Dynasty treasure ships are undergoing the final round of inventory checks.

Sufyan, who was given the position of "Governor-General of Mecca Trade" and granted a baronial title by the Tang Dynasty, and Pusmi, a Jewish merchant who purchased a large amount of goods from the Tang Dynasty and almost spent all the wealth he brought.

They all stared in horror at the colossal sea vessel before them, a sight that far exceeded their comprehension.

The brothers Cheng Chumo and Cheng Chuliang exchanged a glance, a smile flashing in each of their eyes.

Is that all?

That's because you haven't seen the ships in the Dengzhou Royal Shipyard, which are under the most stringent protection and are equipped not only with crossbows but also with cannon emplacements.

That thing is the real weapon of mass destruction at sea.

In early November of the fifth year of the Zhenguan era, the Tang Dynasty's royal fleet set sail one after another.

The fleet departed in succession, led by the flagship "Zhenhai" treasure ship, consisting of 36 treasure ships, and followed by 240 other supply, escort, and troop transport vessels.

The mighty fleet will sail south along the coast, and when it reaches Guangzhou Port, it will complete its final formation.

Then, following the secret sea chart, we officially stepped into the deep blue sea.

After traversing the islands of Southeast Asia and making resupply stops along the way, they finally arrived at the first major port... a port on the southern coast of the Indian Peninsula, under the control of the Indian Imperial Guard, specifically the southern coastal port of the Kingdom of Chalukya.

Mumba (later Mumbai).

After that, we crossed the Arabian Sea, traveled through the Gulf of Aden, officially entered the Red Sea, and arrived at our final destination... Mecca!